Originally posted by OlFuzzyBastard Evolution-X injured Goldust, obviously Booker's gonna avenge him starting next week, and I get the feeling (if the WWE can't sign Goldberg, creating a necessity for Rock-Austin rather than HHH-Austin), Booker's got himself all lined up for a World Title Match at Wrestlemania.

Maybe. But I have a feeling that he's next in line for an RVD-style push. One step forward and two steps back.

And if you guys don't think race matters in the WWE, think about how many black guys have ever had the belt. Or had the opportunity to even win the belt.

"maybe i'm just being a dick, but, is "black gold" REALLY a "fucking hilarious" nickname? i feel like the use of hyperbole on this board is way out of hand. people are always "spitting coffee all over the keyboard," saying things are "the funniest thing i've read all year," etc.

gotta calm down, people. it's a little bit like the boy who cried wolf; if everything is "the funniest thing i have ever seen or heard in my life ever," when you want to say something is really funny, it'll lose its punch."

For some reason that whole quote reminds me of the "NO HORSEPLAY" sign at swimming pools. Lighten up pal, smiles are free you know?

Originally posted by Hogan's My DadFirst of all, black gold is a fucking hilarious name and it should have been their official team name all along.

maybe i'm just being a dick, but, is "black gold" REALLY a "fucking hilarious" nickname? i feel like the use of hyperbole on this board is way out of hand. people are always "spitting coffee all over the keyboard," saying things are "the funniest thing i've read all year," etc.

gotta calm down, people. it's a little bit like the boy who cried wolf; if everything is "the funniest thing i have ever seen or heard in my life ever," when you want to say something is really funny, it'll lose its punch.

Remember, BlackGold, Texas T comes from the theme song of the Beverly Hillbillies. I'm still wondering if Vince paid Paul Henning's estate yet for Austin singing the theme song on RAW in '01.Now, back to the original point of this thread. If Booker is going to be going into a World Title Feud, it won't be until around KOTR. Remember, it was Batista and Orton behind the Goldust beatdown, thus Booker will be feuding with that tandem (plus whoever comes in as #4) for the next few months, which will take us past Mania. Now, if Trip faces Austin at Mania, conventional wisdom would have Austin going over Trip, thus causing a face champion on RAW to be in place, thus blocking Booker. Coupled with the inevitable rematch, that would probably take the company through the April PPV whichever way the outcome goes.Now, if Austin/Trip doesn't come off at Mania, I still doubt it would be Booker facing Trip. As long as Kevin Nash is sitting in the wings to come back on a PPV with a big payday, he's frontrunner for the contigency match.

Bringing the French along in a war is like bringing an accordion along when you go hunting. All it provides is useless noise.

I'm not disputing that they were depushed. I'm disputing that they were depushed for political/racist/personal reasons. You can't prove it so why act like you know it? For all you know, Booker's going to win the world title at Wrestlemania. Or maybe he's going to be buried. It's stupid to make assumptions, not to mention REALLY stupid to throw around the race card without the necessary merit.

Booker T is tthe biggest under-rated wrestler in the WWE. It is bout bloody time h gets the push he dserves. I tthink buy the end of this year he will be 6 time, 6 time, 6 time World Hevywieght Champion.

Originally posted by Riko ShaiBooker T is tthe biggest under-rated wrestler in the WWE. It is bout bloody time he gets the push he dserves. I tthink buy the end of this year he will be 6 time, 6 time, 6 time World Hevywieght Champion.

Quote Riko, Forever More.

There are no guarantees that Triple HGH will actually put him over, so let's not get too excited.

Originally posted by Riko ShaiBooker T is tthe biggest under-rated wrestler in the WWE. It is bout bloody time he gets the push he dserves. I tthink buy the end of this year he will be 6 time, 6 time, 6 time World Hevywieght Champion.

Quote Riko, Forever More.

There are no guarantees that Triple HGH will actually put him over, so let's not get too excited.

Yup...I'll believe a Booker T World Title push ONLY, ONLY when it actually happens.

Originally posted by OlFuzzyBastard Evolution-X injured Goldust, obviously Booker's gonna avenge him starting next week, and I get the feeling (if the WWE can't sign Goldberg, creating a necessity for Rock-Austin rather than HHH-Austin), Booker's got himself all lined up for a World Title Match at Wrestlemania.

Maybe. But I have a feeling that he's next in line for an RVD-style push. One step forward and two steps back.

And if you guys don't think race matters in the WWE, think about how many black guys have ever had the belt. Or had the opportunity to even win the belt.

You mean like Rocky Johnson and his son?

Anyway, my own opinion is that Booker will get the old-school face push, having to go thru all the members of The Evolution (or whatever name they finally decide on) one or two at a time until he gets his shot at HHH. At least, that's the way I'd do it.

Originally posted by fuelinjectedEven when Vince's company portrays most of their minorities as stereotypes?

Its not much of a leap to think that there are racial motives behind not pushing Booker T.

To play Devil's advocate here, the majority of all the characters put across in the WWE stem from stereotypes; probably because it's the easiest way to make a large group of people react to/recognize a character in a short amount of time. That's why a stereotype like the wicked foreigner is always good for a heel. It also makes it really easy for the writer to come up with situations and storylines.

Because minority stereotypes are looked on negatively, use of such characters ends up heavily scrutinized & criticized, and often labeled racist even if that was not the intent.

I have no idea whether or not there is genuine, hate motivated racism in the WWE. I'm sure it would be naive of me to think that there is none. But I have a gut feeling that lazy and unmotivated writing is more to blame for the allegedly offensive characters than some hidden agenda within the McMahon family...

More on topic, they blew it with Booker & Goldust. Completely, utterly, blew it.

Can't hear your voiceBack in the crowdMove up frontAnd shout out loud...

Originally posted by OlFuzzyBastard Evolution-X injured Goldust, obviously Booker's gonna avenge him starting next week, and I get the feeling (if the WWE can't sign Goldberg, creating a necessity for Rock-Austin rather than HHH-Austin), Booker's got himself all lined up for a World Title Match at Wrestlemania.

Maybe. But I have a feeling that he's next in line for an RVD-style push. One step forward and two steps back.

And if you guys don't think race matters in the WWE, think about how many black guys have ever had the belt. Or had the opportunity to even win the belt.

You mean like Rocky Johnson and his son?

I don't believe Rocky Johnson ever won the world title (though he was a tag team champion) and The Rock is only half-African-American. There's never been a 100% African-American world champion.

If anything, that was the only compelling part of Faarooq's failed 1996 title chase. Faarooq wanted to become the first black WWF champion while Ahmed Johnson vowed HE would be the first black WWF champion. (Hey, wouldn't it have been something to have Ron Simmons become the first black WCW and WWF champions)

If they could play up the fact that there's never been an African-American world champion in WWE, it could make quite a compelling storyline for Booker T.

Originally posted by ManiacalClownI'm not disputing that they were depushed. I'm disputing that they were depushed for political/racist/personal reasons. You can't prove it so why act like you know it? For all you know, Booker's going to win the world title at Wrestlemania. Or maybe he's going to be buried. It's stupid to make assumptions, not to mention REALLY stupid to throw around the race card without the necessary merit.

It's not stupid to assume anything as long as there's a logical flow to the argument. It's not like I'm pulling the "WWF is racist" argument out of thin air. It has a history, and is even RIGHT NOW, doing things on screen that are perceived as racist and insensitive to minorities. I'm not even going so far as to say it is racist, only suggesting it as a possible motive to keep Booker T down. There's tons of other shit they could use to keep him out of the spotlight, but that's just 1 guess.

No one can prove anything these days in the WWE, ever since Vince imposed a media blackout on the net for reporting stuff he didn't like in 2001. Even Meltzer resorts to "inside sources" and "speculation" because he can't get the straight facts from Vince's carnival operation.

Originally posted by OlFuzzyBastard Evolution-X injured Goldust, obviously Booker's gonna avenge him starting next week, and I get the feeling (if the WWE can't sign Goldberg, creating a necessity for Rock-Austin rather than HHH-Austin), Booker's got himself all lined up for a World Title Match at Wrestlemania.

Maybe. But I have a feeling that he's next in line for an RVD-style push. One step forward and two steps back.

And if you guys don't think race matters in the WWE, think about how many black guys have ever had the belt. Or had the opportunity to even win the belt.

You mean like Rocky Johnson and his son?

I don't believe Rocky Johnson ever won the world title (though he was a tag team champion) and The Rock is only half-African-American. There's never been a 100% African-American world champion.

If anything, that was the only compelling part of Faarooq's failed 1996 title chase. Faarooq wanted to become the first black WWF champion while Ahmed Johnson vowed HE would be the first black WWF champion. (Hey, wouldn't it have been something to have Ron Simmons become the first black WCW and WWF champions)

If they could play up the fact that there's never been an African-American world champion in WWE, it could make quite a compelling storyline for Booker T.

Re: Rocky Johnson - The quote being addressed is "Or had the opportunity..." (see above).

Anyway, I guess I really don't belong in this discussion. I just don't see how an entity such as WWE (or an individual such as Vince McMahon, since such decisions ultimately are his to make) can be racist, but not against people who are only 50% or 75% or 99 and 44/100ths % African American. I'm just not able to buy into the possibility that a bigot is only bigoted against those who are 100% African American, while being cool with all other people of color, including the children of those who are being described in this forum as 100% African American.

Another reason I need to beg off this debate is I have no idea how one is determined to be 100% African American (excluding, of course, those who are recent immigrants from that continent, of which I know of none at the present time being discussed in this forum). Just how many generations do we go back to make the 100% determination? Do we stop at parents? Grandparents? Great-grandparents? Equally important, who at WWE has the job of crunching the numbers to insure that only those who fit the 100% category are being discriminated against? Does the federation keep a full-time genealogist on the payroll just for this purpose?

Oh, and lest we forget, how does RVD fit into all this? Is he also a victim of WWE's racist policies? And, if so, just who does his make-up?

maybe i'm just being a dick, but, is "black gold" REALLY a "fucking hilarious" nickname? i feel like the use of hyperbole on this board is way out of hand. people are always "spitting coffee all over the keyboard," saying things are "the funniest thing i've read all year," etc.

Yes, "black gold" really is a "fucking hilarious" name. Yes, you are also being a dick. Furthermore, oh minster of hyperbole...you are the biggest loser in the history of internet posting. Whoopsie...Got hyperbolic there. I laughed out loud at the name, and hadn't heard it before, and everyone I know who I told it to laughed outloud once I explained who Goldust was and who Booker T was; they laughed too. And not just a "that's cute" chuckle, a nice deep laugh, like when Joey eats something on Friends. Some people have been saying things are too funny, but funny is a subjective thing. I mean, Dennis Miller has a job, and I find him about as funny as a newsflash from the Gaza Strip. And people who just read my analogy might find it as funny as...a newsflash from the gaza strip. When I say "tripel aytch heldd down jericho and made him suk a monekie's dick or he'd fire him cuz stephanie is his real-life wife..." then attack that, dude. Because that's fact I'm misrepresenting, in that case. But don't take me to task over something that is totally subjective and can't be debated beyond the extent of "this is funny to person A but not person B". And yes, using a smaller font to quote you is my way if "belittling your point".

HA!

Originally posted by LexusJohn Cena's rapping? Whoa, and all this time, I thought it was a joke and a nod towards Eminem, Vanilla Ice, Marky Mark, and Kid Rock. And Bubba Sparxx. Good thing I found out it's racially insensitive to be white in rap. Oh, wait, bashing a white person for rapping is a bias against white people.

I think you're taking Venom's point completely out of context. I believe he meant, and I would concur, that John Cena's rapping is racist because he implies Eddy and Chavo were migrant workers simply because they are of Spanish descent. And they (the raps) are racist. The only thing that makes it okay is the fact that the racist raps are being performed by heels, in other words, aren't being promoted as acceptable. Not that it wouldn't help to have Michael Cole say "these prejudiced rhymes are totally out of hand...", but one day at a time. If the guy can say "rikishi loves life" and "that man's nothing but a BULLY" nine times per episode, surely he can establish that making Taco Bell jokes at the expense of Mexicans is prejudiced.

I don't doubt that people get "held back" by WWE. Sometimes it is racial. When you have a show with a predominantly white audience, you have to market concepts that are attractive to that demographic. I just found out from my sisters that in 1998 the soap "the Young and the Restless" was bombared with hate mail for putting Victoria Newman (white girl) with Neil (black man) in a romantic relationship. The majority of the show's viewers are from the south and were unwilling to accept, in 1998 friends, motherfucking 1998 that a black man and white woman could be in a romantic situation. As a person who is half black and half white, (Mulatto, if you care) I find that personally offensive. But I respect Y&R listening to its audience, and I respect WWE's decision not to incite such a reaction by putting a black man in the Champion's position in the past.

HOWEVER being that Booker T is to this point as popular as, save for Austin when he returns and Hogan now that he's back, ANYONE on the active roster, I no longer see any credibility in this justification. In Texas, which is real deep south, Booker is over-like-the-wrath-of-God-on-Passover, so I say PUSH THE MAN. Let him skip the Biloxi, Mississippi, and Tulsa, Oklahoma shows and put him on top. He's 38...Benoit's getting old too. They won't be around for more than 3 years at the most, these guys, certainly not at this level of physical ability in the ring, so now is the time to utilize these talents as top hands. I don't understand the inclination by the WWE to hesitate on these objectives. And no...It's not Triple H's fault because if Vince says "you're jobbing to Booker at Wrestlemania, Paul"...then y'know what? He'd do it. And he fuckin' get paid well to do the shit, too. It's Vince's decision...

(edited by Hogan's My Dad on 4.2.03 2255)"Whatever I just posted above is what your mother said in bed last night."

You want racially insensitive? Hulk Hogan. They take an Irishman (Hogan is an Irish name) and make him a raving Christian fighting machine.

Oh, maybe I just put a spin on things, like you can do with most things.

Since when are Irishmen not Christians??? And if you mean Protestant, what about his act applied only to Protestants and not Catholics? I grew up Catholic and worshiped Hogan, and never saw any reason to think of him as any specific religion outside of Christian (not that I would have liked him any worse if he were a Buddhist).

Anyway, I've gotten very tired of coming up with reasons to think Booker was getting his chance. When Kane took on Jericho for the I.C. title/#1 contendership, I was SURE that HHH was going to take out Kane and Booker would be the sudden replacement. I was SURE that Booker was going to win the Elimination Chamber. I was SURE that Booker was going to win the Rumble (after Brock lost his spot due to Heyman screwing him into a DQ against Big Show). When the match is announced and the 1-2-3 is called and Booker's arm is raised AND MOST IMPORTANTLY there is no controversy on the next day that would cause a Dusty Finish, then I will stop dreaming and start believing.

Apparently it will be broadcast on WWE.com, so I don't expect it to be on the modern-day equivalent of the Free-For-All. Am I wrong in suspecting that the only potential winners are the Monster Mashers (Kane, Henry, Khali, and V)